So many people dream big dreams. Dreaming big is easy. And many people give up dreaming. That is easy too. What is hard is dreaming visionary, authentic dreams.

I have to admit that sometimes I get really, really tired of seeing the Facebook ads promising me that I can achieve overnight success if only I buy their program. Nobody is short of opinions and everybody claims they can solve your problems and of course they are the ones who got it right. But so many programs are thinly veiled grabs for money only.

Your Dreams Do Matter

You can probably identify with me. You have seen so many programs and opportunities offering the world to you on an oyster, that like me, you find it tiring. And we’ve all had friends (or maybe we were those friends) that got set up for another failure, because this is the one that will change it all.

And sometimes it would be easy to just give up on those dreams. But here is the thing, without dreams we get nowhere. No house gets built without a dream of what it should look like. No great future is built without dreams for it either.

Your dreams matter. We are all waiting for you to start reaching for them. You reaching for your dreams is good for me. Your dreams are meant to solve some of the world’s problems.

Authentic Dream Rules

There are however some rules in life that are often omitted in the hype. And their omission is the cause for all the unrealistic dreams and the crazy promises.

So here are a few rules to consider:

Do your dreams use people or serve people? If I need to use people to reach my dreams, I am violating the first law of this universe: we are created to love. Love serves. Your dreams must serve people and solve problems. The first question to ask is: How do my dreams serve others?

Are you willing to grow? Life is agricultural, not industrial. We don’t manufacture the life of our dreams. We grow them. We plant the seeds of promise. We cultivate the sprouts of them taking place. We prune the trees of achievement. And finally we pick the fruit of our dreams.

Are you ready to persevere and overcome obstacles? If your dreams are not worth going the distance for, perhaps your dreams need some grounding. If your dreams are not worth pursuing if you can’t achieve overnight success, stop now! Finding something worth overcoming obstacles for.

Work is worship. Or at least it should fit in that domain. We were designed to work. If your dreams are only about never having to work again, go back to the drawing board. God will never bless a life plan designed to do nothing. He Himself works. So embrace work.

The biggest call we have is becoming the person God desires us to be. So is pursuing and achieving your dream going to aid in the becoming? If it doesn’t, rethink it. If your dream is big enough, deep enough, other-centric enough, or challenging enough to require you to become a person of more character and skill, it is time to re-evaluate.

Now to be fair, there are some dreams that are very important that mainly deal with our recreation. Like enjoying a vacation with friends, or going to a concert. I am not really talking about those dreams. It is important to rest and refresh.

What I am talking about are the big dreams. The ones expected to move you towards your best life. The ones that involve your purpose.